


normal

by crisscross



Category: Marble Hornets
Genre: During Canon, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Haircuts, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-25 01:42:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17112059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crisscross/pseuds/crisscross
Summary: You'd think two people who know they're in life-threatening danger would try to leave as little loose threads behind as possible.You would be wrong.





	1. Chapter 1

You'd think two people who know they're in life-threatening danger would try to leave as little loose threads behind as possible.

You would be wrong.

Tim knows  _ damn  _ well any car trip could be their last, and that holding anything back when you're simultaneously running from and chasing a cryptids hand puppet in the form of your old friend is dumb with a capital D - but then again, so is Tim. 

Besides, not talking to Jay about all their shared stolen glances, and the milliseconds of going to grasp at each other's wrists when they get frightened, and the fact that sharing a bed has gone from awkwardly trying not to touch each other to the best Tim has slept in years - it's all very good motivation for… 

Not, dying. 

Which Tim has been in a desperate need for for a very long time, and not yet having at least  _ tried _ something with Jay makes him want to stick around, so he at least won't die a coward. 

… On the other hand, Jay is kind of a reason to stick around in himself. 

Jay, and his dumb hat, and his dry humor, and unruly hair that's getting way too long, and his lanky limbs, and unwavering gift for providing comforting dumbassery. 

In  _ theory _ , Jay is very smart. In practice, however, Jay trips over his tongue when he tries to speak, and trips over just about everything else, too - he can't for the life of him do something silently, at least not when it's safe to be loud, and he can't get vending machines to work or swipe his credit card the right way on the first try. Even if a lid is on as  tight as it can be, Jay will somehow manage to spill hot coffee on himself or Tim, but more often than not he'll hit both of them. 

Tim is aware that he himself is far from graceful, but Jay is tenfold worse. All of it adds up to the fact that looking at Jay has started giving him heartaches, and Tim needs to talk about it,  _ soon _ , but he's not ready it yet. 

Instead, he brings something else that needs addressing up - 

“You need a haircut.” 

“I think that might be the tenth time you've said that this week,” Jay says, not looking up from his laptop and the hours of road trip footage on it. 

“Well, ya  _ do, _ ” Tim reiterates, briefly considering ruffling up Jay's hair to prove his point, but deciding against it. 

Jay rolls his eyes and stops skipping through the current tape, switching to another file - “well, what am I supposed to do about it? A barber shop visit is neither in our budget or schedule,” he grumbles, as the recording from last night of them both sleeping pops up on his screen. 

Tim considers the fairly reasonable point for a moment. “I could probably cut it for you, if you want.”

Jay blinks, and finally looks up from his laptop to give Tim an incredulous stare. “ _ You? _ ”

“Why is that so surprising?” Tim snorts, crossing his arms.

Jay shakes his head a little - “I just… Didn't think you knew how to cut hair. I don't know if I even believe that, honestly.”

“Of  _ all _ the things I could lie to you about,” Tim starts, “why would the ability to  _ cut hair _ be one of those?”

Jay shrugs. “I dunno - as a joke?”

Tim shakes his head. “You're not even on camera enough for that to be worth it. No one would ever know, anyways, because of your dumbass fashion statement.”

“My-” Jay looks confused, then slightly offended - “my dumbass- do you mean my cap?”

“Uh-huh.”

“That's not a  _ fashion statement,  _ it's just a fucking hat!” Jay yells, and Tim can't help but snicker. 

“You sure it isn't a shield? Cause you're so ashamed of your bad hair year?”

“God -  _ fine,  _ you can cut it,” Jay groans, shoving his computer off of his lap to rest on the mattress instead, swinging his legs over the side of their bed and rubbing his hands over his face. Tim scoots off the other side, and goes to rummage around in his bag - when he's found the scissors and comb he's looking for, Jay is staring at him weirdly. 

“Why the hell do you even have those?”

“You think these groomed themselves?” Tim retaliates, tapping his sideburns.

“Oh.”

Jay is silent for a moment while Tim goes to the bathroom to grab a towel, and when he comes back - 

“I'm glad to know  _ sideburn maintenance _ was on your list of priorities when you were packing up to leave.”

“One of us has to look presentable,” Tim shrugs, as he throws the towel over Jay's head. Jay pulls it off, and stands up. 

“Where do you want me to sit?”

“Uhh,” Tim looks around the small hotel room, and goes over to lift Jay's bag off the armchair in the corner, pulling it out enough for him to stand behind. “Right here.”

Jay obeys, draping the towel around his shoulders as he goes to sit, then glances up at Tim over his shoulder. “You better not fuck this up.”

Tim snorts. “I'll do my best. Do you have any wishes in mind? Or do you just want me to unfuck this birds nest in any way I so desire.”

“Honestly, as long as I don't end up bald you can do whatever.”

“Aw. There goes my vision,” Tim chuckles, hesitating before running his fingers through Jay's hair. He wants to say he's doing something relevant, like feeling the texture or something, but he knows that's a lie - he's just been aching to do it for so long that finally getting to almost sends a shiver down his spine. He could swear he feels Jay lean into it, too - but then he has to retract his hand before it gets too drawn-out and weird. 

Instead, he moves onto the actual haircut part, taking a moment to assess Jay's messy situation before going in. 

“When was the last time you got a haircut, anyways?” Tim asks. 

“Uhh… At least a year ago, at this point.”

“Oh my  _ god _ ,” Tim wheezes. “You're  _ lucky _ I'm here.”

Jay snorts. “Sure. The fact that you can cut my hair is why I'm lucky you're here.”

“There any other reasons?”

“ _ Obviously?  _ I think if I was doing this alone for very much longer I would've gone as crazy as Alex.”

“I feel like all I do is waste our money on cigarettes.” 

“That's not true and you know it. You're good company. I mean, sure, you  _ should quit,  _ but - only partly for financial reasons.”

Tim pauses. Long enough for Jay to look back over his shoulder at him. 

“What?”

Tim snaps out of it, shakes his head a little. “I just - you're the second person ever who's called me  _ good company. _ ”

“Well, you are,” Jay mutters, facing forwards again. “... Was the other one-”

“Yeah,” Tim cuts Jay off. He doesn't need to hear the name of his only other friend, ever, right now. “I'm not sure I believe either of you, though.”

Jay is silent, for a moment. “I guess you don't need to believe me. Just believe that I believe it.”

Tim snorts - “poetic.”

“What can I say? I'm a wordsmith.”

Tim chuckles, ruffles up the back of Jay's now significantly less straggly hair. “Oh, by the way, a note about cutting your own hair - you're going to be itchy for the next five months. You'll wake up and have a random, tiny hair in your mouth, somehow.”

“Well, I already wake up with  _ yours  _ in my face half the time anyways, so, won't feel that different - are you done?”

Tim ignores how domestic they sound, and how much he longs for them to be doing it anywhere but  _ here,  _ and instead moves around to look at Jay from the front, tilting his head slightly in consideration. “Think so, yeah.”

“Cool,” Jay nods, shrugging the towel off of his shoulders before standing up to make a detour to the bathroom. Tim leans in the doorway, watches Jay check out his hair. 

“What do you think?”

“It's certainly… Hair,” Jay nods, and lets out an amused snort when Tim rolls his eyes so hard he's certain Jay will notice it in the mirror. “It looks better! It really- I didn't think it would make a difference, but, it really does. Thank you.”

Tim meets Jay's eyes through their reflections, and smiles. “You're welcome.”

Jay smiles back, in that crooked way that would probably look sly on anyone else, but on him it only looks dorky and adorable. Just like him. 

They share a silence that makes Tim feel  _ something,  _ makes him almost ready to talk, but Jay beats him to the punch. 

“We're leaving as soon as we wake up tomorrow, right?”

Tim swallows the words that were ready to hurl themselves out of him, and shrugs his shoulders - “sure.”

Jay nods, and turns around so he can get out of the bathroom, and then he's back to reviewing their security footage, and Tim leaves his crushed moment of confidence behind to go outside and smoke. 


	2. Chapter 2

“I have a question.”

“...Okay, shoot. I can't promise an _answer_ , but.” 

Tim snorts, glances over at Jay in the driver's seat, eyes on the never ending road in front of them. “Seems to be a consistent theme with us two.”

Jay laughs - short lived and slightly empty, but a laugh nonetheless. “What is it, Tim?”

Tim pauses, and sighs, heavily. “...Even if you knew something was undoubtedly doomed. Would you still try and do it?”

Jay considers the question in silence, tapping the steering wheel with his pointer finger. “I mean, what is what we're doing right now, if not doomed?”

Tim chuckles - “saying shit like _that_ doesn't help our spirits, dude.”

“Sorry, sorry - but I guess that depends on what you're talking about. Like, try and finish a cup of coffee when you've got no time? Or something bigger than that?”

“Li'l bit bigger,” Tim mumbles, turning his head to stare out of his window at the universe zipping by outside of their car. “Like…” He bites at his lip, ponders how to not give himself away, immediately. “For us, I guess… Having a, a life. And I don't mean after this is over and done with, if that'll ever happen, I mean - now.”

“Think it'd be hard to start a life in a car in the middle of nowhere-” 

“ _Jay_ ,” Tim groans, “stop your smartassery and give me a straight goddamn answer.”

“Well, I can't, cause I don't know!” Jay says. “I'm still not sure what you mean. A life like, a job and an apartment, or whatever? Because-”

“I mean a relationship.”

Might as well make it blindingly obvious. 

“...Oh.”

Silence. 

“I… I don't know, still. I don't think I really have any options, so, I couldn't think of anyone to consider for you.”

Tim's jaw tightens. More silence.

“...I think.”

“You do a lot of that. It usually gets us nowhere,” Tim says, a weak attempt at bringing the long lost dream of levity back. 

“Hey,” Jay snorts, “we _both_ do thinking that gets us nowhere.”

Tim smiles, almost on accident, and they fall back into silence. 

“... So, what about you?”

Tim finally looks back over at Jay - “what do you mean?”

Jay wets his lips, shifts a little in his seat. “Would… Would _you_ try at a relationship, now? Even if you knew it was doomed?”

Tim pauses. “I guess… I guess if you don't know, then I don't know, either.”

Jay mulls the words over, then nods, sighing slightly. “Maybe we'll never know, then.”

For all he was avoiding looking at him before, Tim doesn't seem to be able to stop staring at Jay, now. 

“Maybe not.”

A silence so heavy Tim feels like he's gonna get crushed underneath it. 

“There's a gas station coming up - need a smoke break?”

Tim chokes back a sigh of relief at the thought of getting out of this godforsaken car and away from Jay and the burning sensation that just being near him causes in his chest, and instead settles for a nod. 

It lasts about ten minutes of awkward, passing conversation before Jay is finally pulling over. 

“I'm gonna go in, while you do your thing - do you want anything?”

“Just, whatever,” Tim says, unhelpfully, back to diverting his line of sight from Jay. “You decide.”

“... Alright.”

When they exit the car, Tim heads straight for the back of the store, leaning up against the wall right beside a set of dumpsters just to drive home to himself the level of class he has. 

He doesn't know if he'll ever be able to look at Jay again, after that exchange.

That was as blunt of a love declaration you were going to get out of him, and Jay… Well, Tim can't even tell if that was a rejection or not - it was just weird, because if the rest of their lives aren't normal, of course this wasn't going to be, either. Tim had been hoping it would, without wanting to admit it - had been praying he could start something normal with Jay. Something universal, something that everyone else goes through, too. He supposes other people have probably been through an exchange like that, too, but - God, how he wishes it could've just been easy. 

It takes him a hot second of sulking in disappointment before his shaking hands remind him of why he's there, and he lets them tug the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, bring one up to his lips and light it before he can go back to thinking about this whole mess. And he's about to, too, when he hears something, and…

Alright, Tim is used to hearing weirdass noises by now, and usually it means he has to get the hell away from wherever he is, but he swears that was-

There it was again. 

A meow. 

Tim steps away from the wall, looking around in confusion - he's certain it came from right beside him, but he can't see a cat anywhere. He goes to lift both lids of the dumpsters to check for any trapped felines, but finds nothing. 

There's another meow, and before he's about to start digging through the trash for this goddamn cat, he notices it while standing to the left of the large garbage containers - big, green, reflective eyes, staring up at him from the small space between the dumpster and the wall. Tim blinks, and it blinks back, which was unintended but still makes him smile ever so slightly. 

“Hey there, buddy,” Tim mutters, kneeling down slowly. He doesn't wanna scare it and possibly get clawed. He rests his elbow on his knee as he eyes the space it's in, wondering if it's stuck - and then the cat is slinking out of the shadows to sniff at his fingers. He hesitantly stretches his hand out, slightly, and it lets him run his hand over its forehead. 

“You're very friendly, huh?” He says, shifting a little to get more comfortable.

He can't see a collar, anywhere, and the unkempt, dirty fur leads him to believe it's a stray. It's a little fluffier than the average short haired cat, and most of its fur is brown, only it's paws darkening enough to make it look like it's wearing black socks. It seems calm, which is surprising to him - Tim has never met a stray cat that didn't initially run away from him, even if he was coming out with a bowl of food for it. 

A heavy, longing sigh escapes his lips. 

Back at his apartment, there were tons of strays. To be fair, he probably invited half of them by feeding the first couple few, but he couldn't bring himself to regret it - he started buying a bag of cat food, every now and then, as well as keeping a cardboard box with an old blanket inside against the back of his house. He sympathized with them too much not to, the way this stray nuzzles itself against his hand reminds him. 

He already knows that if he's ever getting a cat, it's gonna be a stray - or at the very least, adopted from the local pound. It may sound stupid, but he feels like he could understand a pet like that better - A pet that was like him. 

He hopes he'll get to, one day. Maybe that could feel normal, finally. Unlike-

“Tim? Where are you?”

Speak of the devil. “Over here.”

He listens to the sound of sneakers against asphalt as Jay walks around the corner of the dumpsters, but doesn't bother looking up.

“Thank fuck, I thought you'd- oh!”

Jay stops, abruptly, and Tim figures he got close enough to spot the cat. 

“Don't worry, nothing happened - I just got a guest.”

“I can see that,” Jay says, softer - Tim hears him approach, cautiously. “Is it a stray?”

“Think so, but it isn't aggressive,” Tim hums. He glances over as Jay hesitantly reaches his camera-free hand forward, to let the cat sniff his fingers - it does, the tip of it's tail swaying curiously in the air like a question mark.

“It's gorgeous,” Jay mutters, scratching at its cheek. “It reminds me of my parents cat.”

Tim looks up at Jay's face, finding it safe now that his eyes are preoccupied. It's partially obscured by his camera, of course, but Tim still gets to enjoy his eyes. Yesterday's barber work has been covered up by the green cap, of course, but he still feels a sense of satisfaction in knowing there's no disaster under there. 

“I didn't know you had a cat.”

Jay smiles and nods - “he's very old, by now. I don't… I don't actually know if I'll ever see him again, but, growing up with him was… It was wonderful. Did you ever have a pet?”

Tim shakes his head, a bitter grimace crossing his face as he looks back down at the stray, just as it rolls onto its back and paws at Jay's hand. “Nope. I've always wanted a cat, but. My mom didn't think I would be safe around animals.”

“Oh. I'm sorry.”

“Eh,” Tim shrugs. “It's not the worst thing she's ever told me. Besides… If this ever passes, I'll just adopt one myself and prove her wrong.”

Jay lets out a light chuckle, rubbing his hand down the side of the strays tummy. “You should. That's a good idea.”

Tim smiles, and steals another peek at Jay's face, suddenly realizing he's moved closer at some point. They're almost shoulder to shoulder, now, and he can smell the hotel shampoo as well as a distinct lack of deodorant - “we need to do another grocery run, you stink. We both stink.”

Jay snorts. “Alright, fine. Wanna do it now?”

Tim looks back down at the cat, as it stretches its neck out while he nuzzles under its chin. The sound of his sigh mingles with the loud purring in the air, before he nods. “Yeah.”

He nearly jumps at the feeling of Jay's hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. “Hey, you'll do it someday.”

“What do you mean?”

“Adopt a cat,” Jay clarifies. “Or a dog, or something - when this is all over you're gonna have a pet.”

Tim snorts. “You make it sound like I have no other option.”

“You don't! If you don't get one yourself I'll force a cat on you, I've never met a guy who needed one as much as you do.”

Tim finally meets Jay's eyes, and gives him a smile, despite the shock of nerves that shoots down his spine. “I think I'd be okay with that.”

Jay hesitates before he smiles back, and stands up again, offering his hand to Tim to help him up.

Tim grabs it, but when he's put out his cigarette and flicked the bud in one of the dumpsters, Jay still hasn't let go, and he doesn't let go as they start walking, either.

Tim isn't sure what to say, but he doesn't have to. 

“I think, to answer your question,” Jay says, as he slows to a stop behind his car. “I think… If it was worth it, I would. If I felt it was someone that would mean something, and I would mean something to them, and all of it would _mean_ something, and not be a waste of time, it would be worth it. And I would.”

Tim is breathless. Still, he manages to ask - “... Would it be?”

Jay turns his head and locks eyes with him. “You tell me, Tim.”

And then he's letting go, and heading for the driver's seat. Tim stands behind for a moment, feeling like he's had the wind knocked out of his lungs, then goes to climb into the passenger seat, dazed. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Tim isn't a huge fan of sleeping on the road, but sometimes it's a necessity. 

Tonight happens to be one of those nights - he tried to sleep while Jay was exerting the last of his consciousness behind the wheel, hoping he'd be able to tap in, but of course he wasn't able to nap that easily. Never had been, never would be, and Jay all but refused to let him drive when they were both about to pass out. Instead, he pulled over, ordering Tim to set up the camera on top of the dashboard while he climbs out of the car to get his toothbrush from the trunk. 

Tim obeys, placing the camera and obscuring it from any passing outsiders with the help of his bag, but he doesn't get out after Jay afterwards. Has to stay back and overthink, first, because Tim has another issue with sleeping in the car on the open road now. 

The air between them has felt tense, ever since the gas station - like something is building up to happen, but Tim isn't sure he's brave enough for that. And having to share the back seat gets him flustered enough when they're _not_ playing hot potato with each others feelings, he isn't sure he'll be able to handle lying so close to Jay, feeling his breath on his neck and arm under his waist without his soul leaving his body. That's why, he decides, when he finally gathers up the nerve to join Jay, sitting in the open trunk, that - 

“Can we sleep back to back tonight?”

Only once the question has left his lips and Jay has given him a slightly hurt glance does he realize that saying that was the worse option. 

“Just,” he starts, gesturing vaguely to buy himself more time for coming up with some sort of reason that isn't exactly what it actually is. “Your arms - kinda bony, they uh, they hurt. To lay on.”

Tim holds in a cringe, and a sigh of relief when Jay snorts and looks at least a little less worried. 

“Alright, understandable. But, uh, I'm not sure we have enough space for that? We could switch around instead, if you want. I'd be fine with that.”

Tim doesn't really think being behind Jay, rather than in front of him, is going to do him any type of good, but he also can't come up with another lie on the spot short of offering to sleep on the ground outside. 

“Okay, that works,” he nods instead, going to sit on the other side of the bag Jay is next to, because he needs as much goddamn separation as he can get until they're going to bed. 

“Y’know, I almost thought you weren't gonna come out. Which would be ironic because you're the one that forced me back into brushing my teeth.”

Tim snorts, as he's digging out his own toothbrush. “I'm not letting some long-armed fuck mess with my hygiene. I know you didn't have much of a concept of it to start with, but.”

Jay rolls his eyes. “I was a nerd that barely left my room before all of this happened, what did you expect?”

“Absolutely nothing less,” Tim nods, and gets a shove from Jay. He chuckles, and shoves him back, and they keep nudging each other back and forth until they have to spit on the side of the road.

“That looks sorta… Suspect,” Jay says, going to wipe his mouth on his sleeve. 

“What do you mean?” Tim inquires, as he snaps his hand up to grab Jay's wrist and direct him to the tissues that are _right there_ beneath the plastic bag they keep their toothbrushes in. 

“I mean… Y’know,” Jay shrugs, gesturing back to the white spit on the asphalt. 

“Jaylexander Merrick,” Tim squints at him,” are you making a _lewd?”_

Jay snickers into the paper he's wiping his face with. “Did you just call me _Jaylexander?”_

“Don't avoid the question!” Tim scolds, trying to stay deadpan - which is usually easy, but he's found the difficulty increases tenfold whenever Jay is smiling. 

“Alright, so maybe I am making a lewd… Timnathan,” Jay chuckles - “but you can't deny my point.”

“What,” Tim shrugs exaggeratedly, “some white goo on the side of the road next to a parked car where two dudes are spooning and there's a camera pointed at us on the dashboard? What's innuendo-like about _that?”_

Jay full-on cracks, and laughs. Not a half-lived or empty or nervous one, a real, wonderful laugh that makes Tim feel like someone's set his heart on fire and it's turning his whole chest into an inferno of warm affection. 

“It would be worth it.”

Jay's laugh trails off, devolving into a snort here or there and the lingering trace of a smile in his eyes as they meet Tim's. “Sorry, what?”

Tim takes a deep breath, and forces himself not to break eye contact. “If we tried to have something meaningful and important…” No. Nope, drop it with the vague bullshit. He has to look away for this one - “if you decided that, that I am an option and that you wanna stop this back-and-forth, and - if you decided that you want to stop pretending we only cuddle at night because of a lack of _space_ or for _financial_ reasons, or whatever - to me, it would be worth it. You would be worth it.”

No matter how hard he tries, so long as Jay is silent, Tim can't get himself to even sneak a glance at his face. He's one second away from his knees giving out under him from anxiety and relief and fear of Jay's answer whether negative or positive, and decides laying down would probably be more optimal than all of this. 

“So, that's, uh,” he mumbles, sticking his hand in his pocket as he walks around to open the back seat door. “That's where I stand on that. Ball's back in your court, now.”

He ungracefully climbs back inside the car as fast as he can, so Jay doesn't see his immediate freak-out session as soon as he's out of sight - what he's _not_ counting on is the fact that the door barely remains closed for five seconds before it's being flung back open by Jay again, and then suddenly Jay is over him, because Jay has tackled him to the back seat in a bone-crushingly tight embrace, and is burying his face in Tim's shoulder. 

“I'm puncturing this fucking ball,” Jay mumbles into the red fabric, voice shaky - “you're an option, you've never not been an option, you're worth all the… _Everything,_ you're worth _so much_ , Tim.”

Tim, as he so often can't, is unable to find the right words. Rather than let Jay take over the conversation for him, though, he responds non-verbally, wrapping one arm around Jay's back and letting the other hand run up to his hair, digging his fingers into both. 

He's hesitant - but if this isn't the right time to say it, when would be?”

“I love you,” Tim mutters - barely even whispers, really, and if Jay's face wasn't right up against his own he probably wouldn't have heard him. But Jay does, and in response leans back, slightly, just enough that he can look into Tim's eyes. Tim stares back, longing for something that he's been longing for for a _while_ , but he isn't really sure what. 

“I love you too,” Jay says, quietly, smiling, and slowly leans in, and - oh. As Tim stretches his neck up to press his lips to Jay's, he realizes that that's exactly what he's been missing. That, and so much more like it - being able to have nights like this every night, and not fear for the life of both himself and Jay every moment of his life. 

Tim doesn't think he'll ever really be ‘Normal.’

Even if all this stuff wasn't happening, and he wasn't on the road, and he didn't lose chunks of his memory on a regular basis, he would still have a trunk load of mental issues, and he would still be in love with another man. But maybe he doesn't even  _need_ to be normal - sure, he'd love for all that first crap to not be happening, but this, with Jay? It doesn't feel an inch of normal. 

Watching Jay back away to close the open door behind him, and pull out his keys to lock the the world out around them, then fish up their blanket from the floor of the car and drape it over both of them, and go right back to kissing Tim - it feels so much better than normal. 

It feels like buzzing in his fingertips and explosions in his chest and a switch being flipped in his brain that turns off all coherent thoughts, and he never wants to feel normal if he could be feeling _this_. 

“I love you,” Tim repeats, because he doesn't think he'll ever be able to say anything else ever again. 

Jay gives him a smile that makes him feel everything except for normal, and presses a lingering kiss to his jawline. 

“I love you too, Tim,” Jay mumbles against his skin. Tim can't do anything but close his eyes and hug Jay tighter, and pray that tomorrow will feel exactly as abnormal as this. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and thats it! the operator and alex mysteriously disappeared and jay and tim moved in together and got a cat and lived happily and peacefully :)  
> this was super fun to write and get a better feel for the characters and their dynamic, as well as flex my pining muscles - thanks for all the sweet comments!! <33


End file.
